The Importance of Planning Game Developing

What does it take to make great games?
Brilliantly optimized graphics code?
Stunning sound effects, clever artificial intelligence routines, lush artwork, or simply irresistible gameplay? Well, you need all of that of course, with gameplay one of the most important factors. However, behind the scenes you are going to need a trail guide and a map to get there.

You might be working alone on a great mod to a commercial game, or you might be working with an artist on a cool online card game, or you might be the director of development at Blizzard. The size of your project or your role does not matter; you still need a plan to create your game.

Why must you have a plan? With the smallest of projects the plan will likely be to get a prototype of the game going as soon as possible and then just iterating and playing with the game until it is done. This method works well if the game you are making is a hobby project, or your company is funded by a seemingly unlimited supply of someone else’s money and you are not holding yourself financially accountable